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Touchdown Jaguars!
Touchdown Jaguars!
Episode 108: Revitalizing the Jaguars - Liam Coen's Vision for a New Era
A new chapter unfolds for the Jacksonville Jaguars as Liam Coen steps in as head coach, aiming to instill a winning culture and prioritize Trevor Lawrence's development. The episode explores Jay's key takeaways from Coen's introductory presser as the new coach discussed his thoughts on improving the team's culture and offensive line, their building blocks, and more.
Join Jay as he also tackled the team's personnel structure, which was also a talking point of the presser. Stay informed about the potential influence of Tony Boselli in shaping the Jaguars' future, possibly bringing a Chris Spielman-like impact to the team when he joins the front office.
Lastly, to close the show, Jay listed the offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator candidates the Jags have interviewed and briefly shared his thoughts on the potential pursuit of Ian Cunningham. Engage with us on Twitter and through our website, Touchdown Jaguars, as we prepare for a new Jags era. Embrace this period of renewal and growth for the Jaguars alongside us.
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James Johnson and Phil Smith bring you the best and most up to date Jacksonville Jaguars news. "Touchdown Jaguars!" is a tribute to the prospective ownership group "Touchdown Jacksonville!" In 1991, the NFL announced plans to add two expansion teams and "Touchdown Jacksonville!" announced its bid for a team, and Jacksonville was ultimately chosen as one of five finalists. In November 1993, the NFL owners voted 26–2 in favor of awarding the 30th franchise to Jacksonville. James and Phil have been fans of the franchise ever since and have had the honor (and sometimes dishonor) of covering the team professionally since 2017. The rest as they say, is history.
Welcome to the Touchdown Jacksonville 109 yards Incredible, incredible. Play action Upstairs wide open. Tommy Bohannon touchdown Jacksonville. Looking for Jimmy in the end zone. Touchdown Jaguars. Touchdown Jaguars. Touchdown Jaguars. Welcome to the Touchdown Jaguars podcast. Here are your hosts, james Johnson and Phil Smith. All right, all right, all right.
Speaker 1:Ladies and gentlemen, I almost started this episode with a different intro Not that ours isn't great, but I almost started this episode with the intro of Roscoe P Coldchain Shout outs to Star Trek Records, one of the best record companies ever built. Um. But I almost started this episode with the intro using Roscoe P Cold Chain's song Hot D. You know, I know I won't cuss on this podcast, so I can't say the the other word, but unfortunately we get flagged for copyrights and Pharrell might drop the hammer on us and all that good stuff. But I almost started it with Roscoe P Cold Chain's song Hot D. But I did away with that and I'm joking a little bit here, by the way, because it is A new day indeed for the jacksonville jaguars, as we discussed last week. Right, trent balk, he's out um. And then after that we got moving on finding the coach and we finally found our coach in liam cohen, former offensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Bucks, who will now lead us into a new era of Jacksonville Jaguars football. So we'll get into that in just a bit and that's what today's episode is about.
Speaker 1:But before we even do so, I need to introduce myself, of course. I am James Johnson, aka SportsGrind underscore Dunn, as you all know me on Twitter. James Johnson, aka Sportsgrind underscore Dunn, as you all know me on Twitter, hosting this episode, which is episode 108, solo as my guy Phil. He's busy with what I think is a convention coming up forgive me if I'm misquoting y'all on that Phil with the Wait For it podcast, him and Eric Serna, as you all know his other project, where he does pop culture and anime and things of that nature. So feel free to go ahead and follow the wait for a podcast as well. And shout outs to our buddy, eric cerner, who also has been on the show, but I believe it's a convention.
Speaker 1:Um, they might be preparing for at the moment, but I told phil to fear not. I can hold it down for the solo episode as we have some very exciting news to talk about with Liam Cohen. But, as always, shout outs to Phil, who will join me on the next episode. Who's excited, by the way, just as I am, about the announcement? I know, you know, last week we still kind of vented some frustration, but at the same time we were happy that we're going in a new direction from Trent Baalke, um. So I think I speak for Phil when I say he's excited about this Liam Cohen situation. But, uh, he just is kind of tied down right now, just hasn't been able to um, take the time out to record. So I told him, fear not, I'll hold it down for a solo episode. And that's exactly what we're going to do as we're going to talk about the Jags.
Speaker 1:New hire now. Look, you know, it's just Liam right now solo. And some more hires need to be made and we'll get to that a little bit in this episode because some interviews need to be done this, that and the other. But we do have our head coach in place and we'll talk about the press conference that he had just a few days ago and some of my top takeaways from it, which I watched the whole presser yesterday. So I'm a little late to the party.
Speaker 1:Yesterday was the 28th but, much like Phil, I've been busy myself as well, so I really didn't get to see the press conference. Until a few days ago, really, I didn't get to see it live. So, yeah, you know that's that's not normal of me. Like I'm right there, johnny, on the spot, watching it live making quotes as the as the presser is going on. But you know life happens and you know work happens and things of that nature. I've also missed all of the Twitter shenanigans that's been going on the Bears fans coming at us, tampa Bay Bucks fans coming at us as well, about the coaches search. So I've been missing out on that, but I've gone down my timeline and caught up on everything and got a few laughs out of it as well, because it has been a hilarious journey to actually get Liam to put pen to paper.
Speaker 1:But before we get into all of that, of course I got to plug all of the handles. Let you all know where you can find us. If you're a first time listener, welcome to the show. We appreciate your listening. Your listens in your ears and, as I said, normally it's a two man show it's me and Phil. So if you're a first time listener, we'll have Phil back talking some Jags as well next week. But, as I mentioned, you can find me on Twitter at Sports Grind underscore done and you can find the Touchdown Jaguars Twitter handle under at TD Jags pod. Our official site is Touchdown Jaguars dot com. We will be getting some written content up there, especially with, you know, us now having a head coaching us, going through a journey of finding the assistance and a GM. Eventually that's going to be a big one.
Speaker 1:And yeah, shout outs to, also to my boy, stodge, for joining us in the space. We've been doing a few spaces lately and you know my guy has been alongside me along along the way in those in talking Jags. I know Stodge's big thing is, you know, the Joe button podcast and what have you when we talk about the space room. But yeah, we've done about two spaces. Talk some Jags. I'm going to reach out to him and see if he wants to do another one tomorrow perhaps because you know it feels like this defensive coach hire is coming up. But shout-outs to Stodd, shout-outs to Aaron, who's also been on the show as well, for, you know, popping into space and being there alongside me to talk Jags.
Speaker 1:Shout-outs to everybody who joined us in the most recent space or any of the spaces we've done throughout the last few weeks. Shout-outs to all of you. I hope you all are listening. We appreciate you all coming in and sharing that space with us talking Jags, talking about a new era with Liam Cohen, and we hope to have many, many more with you all, something that we're trying to bridge into a little bit more. Aside from the podcasting realm, aside from writing, aside from going to press conferences, we're trying to just build this thing up and just become multifaceted, if you will. So shout outs to everybody that joined. Also, shout outs to Jacob DeLawrence, who came through for a space too, a former co-host with me at Phil as well, when we used to talk Jags on one of our other projects. But with all of that out of the way, let's go ahead and get into the show itself and the topics at hand.
Speaker 1:Liam Cohen was introduced to the Jacksonville Jaguars earlier this week and I always say this I don't want to make it a long-winded podcast. So I initially had 10 takeaways. I'm going to narrow that down, probably by half or more. I always say this that I'm going to make it not long-winded, and it ended up being that way. But I have narrowed this list down from 10 takeaways to maybe like four or five, and hopefully, with those four or five I don't get long-winded, but here we go nonetheless. And you know, and I I didn't choose these in any particular order, you know, or the chronicle, the chronological order that he spoke of them in, so these might be out of order in terms of when he spoke on each of these things, but we'll get right into it here.
Speaker 1:And one of the things that stood out to me a reporter asked him, you, what does he hope to achieve, being that he'll, you know, be one of the coaches. As we all know, the new coaches get an early start with their team. They get to meet, they get to start putting things together and meeting with the team and getting everybody in the building on April, the 17th. And one of the reporters asked Liam, what does he hope to establish throughout that process, when he gets that early start on meeting with the team? And one thing he said that really stood out to me is that he wants to establish a culture, which I mean, of course, you know, no, that's a key part of any organization and you know that's one of the fundamentals, fundamental parts of an organization, but it's been a part of the organization that the Jaguars have desperately missed and needed for a very, very long time, especially under Trent Baalke and Doug Peterson. Was you know, just culturally, what are the Jacksonville Jaguars? And Doug Peterson was you know, just culturally, what are the Jacksonville Jaguars? We never really knew, even when we had a little bit of success. We really never knew what the Jaguars were culturally. And that's one of the things that just really upset me when it came to Trent Baalke and Doug Peterson and it felt like it was never a thing that they emphasized at least from Trent's perspective, especially that they really emphasize or put the amount of time that was required into getting that fix and establishing that culture Right Around this time of the year.
Speaker 1:You remember last year, and this was always the case, you couldn't find Trent when it came time to talk about what went wrong, what's the outlook for the team, how do we fix it, this, that and the other x, y and z. You can never find Trent, especially last year. You know he didn't speak with the public until I can't remember. Maybe it was in early February, maybe or late January and it felt like that was a little bit forced right. So we really had no clue or idea of how the people on the inside of the building, the most important people on the inside of the building, and Sean Conn wasn't speaking either, right? People on the inside of the building and shot con wasn't speaking either, right? Um, we had no idea how the people in the inside of the building felt about how things ended and how it was going to get fixed and what direction and what path the team was going to take to get there.
Speaker 1:And that always has irked me about the jacksonville jaguars and many fans as well. Here you have, after the end of the season a disappointing season here you have all of these GMs and whatnot taking the podium, some of them by themselves, some of them alongside the coaches, some of them with the owners. Taking the podium, you know, and not just apologizing to the fans. It's bigger than just apologizing. Apologizing to the fans, which that's huge too, but not just apologizing to the fans, which that's huge too. But not just apologizing to the fans, but explaining to them by their eyes, what went wrong, what we'll do to fix it, how we're going to attack the offseason. Of course, you're not going to give people a flat out blueprint of what's going to be done, but you gave them a guideline and just a basic understanding of how things felt within the building and you know the outlook and you know a general plan of what you would do, heading forward as an organization, to fix what went wrong that year.
Speaker 1:The Jacksonville Jaguars really didn't get that, and when they got it it was really late into the offseason Right Three, four weeks after the offseason, whatever the case may be, when Trent finally took the podium. And here you have Liam Cohen, who is a breath of fresh air, and I know the man hasn't stepped on the field once yet as a as a head coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars yet, but clearly he understands that. You know one thing that we need to establish here immediately, especially within the players, and as soon as I can meet with all of the team collectively, it's we got to get the culture established. So that was important to hear, despite how much of a basic concept it is for an organization. He added that after they establish that, they'll work on fundamentals and technique and then after that they'll work on scheme. But while they're working on scheme they'll also emphasize the culture as well. So I can't wait for April to get here, not just because of the draft, but just to allow Liam and the staff when they're you know, when they fully complete the staff to get their hands on these players and start veering them in a direction, culturally, because that has been something that has been missing for the Jacksonville Jaguars organization for quite some time.
Speaker 1:Other thing that stood out to me in this press conference, which is a much like the culture thing, is a no duh moment and something that is, you know, is a foundational piece of how to get a football organization to operate properly, but still something that needs to be said and still something that we wanted to hear. Right, because this team hadn't been functioning like a normal team. They haven't been doing things fundamentally correct, they haven't been putting out the fundamental messages that they should have been putting out. But that second thing was that you know, liam said he wants to make Trevor Lawrence the centerpiece, which no duh. I mean you know the quarterback is arguably the most important part of an organization, right, and you know, I mean you know the quarterback is arguably the most important part of an organization, right, and you know you have to feel like Trevor Lawrence I mean, obviously he was a big part of Liam coming to the Jacksonville Jaguars, because if you don't have a quarterback, you're lost in his league and you know not only that, but as a first time coach, in all probability without a quarterback your chances are very slim of surviving. Right, even you know if the plan is to get a quarterback in the draft eventually and then going from there, eventually you're going to need a quarterback, and that's just football 101, especially for a first year head coach. But you know he spoke highly of Trevor. I like that. He mentioned he respects Trevor's toughness and the reason that's important is because because we're coming off a time where, you know, a lot of fans have been vocal about this but it felt like it was a rift between Trevor Lawrence and Doug Peterson. Right, and here you have a coach right off the rip acknowledging that he loves how tough the quarterback has been and how he's been able to push through adversity and so on and so forth. So already starting on better footing you know, before Trevor Lawrence has even thrown a pass under this coach already starting off on better footing with your new head coach, with your new head coach, you could clearly tell that Trevor Lawrence loves Liam already and their relationship will only grow again. They haven't really done any work together just yet, but there were rumors saying that Trevor was higher on bringing Liam in than he was bringing in Ben Johnson. So that's huge. You can see the excitement in both of their faces. They put a video out on Jaguarscom of Liam meeting the team or meeting some of the key members of the team, and Trevor was the first one that they put up and those two dapped each other up and you could tell like they really, really want to build something special. So that's always good. But I said all of that to say this. That's still, while it's something rather basic, still something important because Trevor Lawrence is coming off what looked to be a rocky relationship with the last head coach and Doug Peterson and probably you know his staff as well.
Speaker 1:Takeaway I had was later in the press conference, in the questioning part of it, cohen single out not necessarily players by name, but he singled out some aspects of the team that he likes and that stood out to me because you already could kind of establish where his mindset is in terms of what's the foundation of the team, where you could build from and what needs to be fixed Right. And you know he singled out was, you know, wide receiver one BTJ junior, uh, btj, brian Thomas Jr. He said that we also have two good running backs, uh, that we can utilize. You know, and I'm just paraphrasing here, so obviously he's high on Taint Biggs, me, travis Etienne right, he singled out the defense. He said they got some guys on that side of the ball. It's just about getting them in a better position to make plays.
Speaker 1:Obviously he watched the film last year. He saw the talent there. Josh Allen, tr. Trayvon walker right, our rookie, my son smith, you know, who had moments, even though you know it was a hassle for him to get on the field because doug was trying to keep him off of the field, uh, to sabotage trent balky. You know all of these guys, um, that you could clearly see talent in. Now, look, that secondary needs to be reworked big time. But you could clearly see some talent in the trenches. It just felt like the scheming and we all knew this with Ryan Nilsen, that the scheming was just terrible, you know. And Ryan Nilsen lost that locker room, that defensive locker room, probably early in the process, which that is a huge sign that he wasn't the right guy to begin with, not just from a schematic standpoint but from a leader standpoint.
Speaker 1:Right, and Liam also mentioned the special teams, which they announced that we will be keeping our special teams coach, by the way, and rightfully so. Right, because Heath Farwell had the best unit on the team. You know me and Phil, we've said it on this podcast. We joked about having the best special teams and you know one of the best special teams in football. But like it kind of wasn't a joke. Like you know, logan Cook is an elite punter, right.
Speaker 1:Cam Little was money as a rookie Right, and it felt like it was no place from the field that he couldn't make a field goal from. Now, obviously that's not physically possible, but y'all know what I mean. You know, if they were in a long-range field goal situation, it felt like we could put a bunch of confidence into Cam Little making that field goal right. You got Parker Washington, when he can hang on to the ball, a very good returner right. He has to get that fumbling and ball security cleared up, but still he's a guy that could change the outcome of a game and change field position and make the impact play that needs to be made to put the offense in a position where they have the short field. And you know with how our offense struggled, that was, you know, a much needed shot in the arm at times when we were losing. But those were the things he singled out btj, two running backs, the defense, the special teams.
Speaker 1:And I think the reason that's important is because what liam's story and what's unique about his story in Tampa Bay was, you know they weren't that great of an offense year before last Right, especially in the run game. Then he gets there, he turns things around, which I think that's kind of telling of these disciples of Sean McVay, you know they they can turn things around instantly, instantly. And it's about players and not the plays, right, that's something that we definitely love to hear, and he did say that that was a talking point of this press conference players, not plays, which you know I don't like to give Trent credit, but Trent is kind of alluded to that too. It's about the, the ex, uh, the jimmies and the joes, not the x's and the o's is how he put it. So you know I don't want to act like trent didn't think that way either, but it never really felt like he truly believed that at times, I guess, um, but all of that said, all of this is important because of how liam cohen found his way to stardom. He, you know what the Bucs had and made it even better and made them a top five offense. And this is just a sign of him already identifying what he already has and what he can build upon. And the fact that he feels that and he didn't say this necessarily, but he alluded to it he feels that they can win and be a good team right off the rip, and rightfully so, because it's the AFC South too.
Speaker 1:But not only that. He did inherit a team that for a first year, head on the edge between Walker and Allen, who he's already, you know, he already has a relationship with because of, you know, the connection to the University of Kentucky. But most first year head coaches don't get that opportunity and that's that's kind of why he needed to jump on this and he couldn't pass on this. A lot of the premium positions we said this are set with this team. A lot of first year head coaches don't get to say that or get to jump into a situation where that's the case. That's why the Jacksonville Jaguars opening was one. If you remove Trent Baalke from it, that was coveted and eventually, when they moved Trent Baalke from it, it became coveted, as it should have been, and the rest wrote itself right.
Speaker 1:So, anyway, I found that quote interesting and you could just kind of see it in his eyes when he, when he in that video that I alluded to earlier where he was meeting people at the facility, and when he looked into Brian Thomas's eyes right, dapped him up and Brian Thomas embraced him with a smile. And when he dapped up Tank Bigsby, which I tweeted about on the Touchdown Jaguars podcast handle, and when he dapped up Trevor Lawrence, which I already mentioned as well, and him mentioning Josh Allen by name. You know it already shows that he's identified, which all coaches do, but still, still, nonetheless, it's good to hear it from the coach. He's identified what this team could do. Well, and he, you know, again, he feels as if this team can hit the ground running. Also, another thing that he said that makes me confident that he believes he could hit the ground running is, you know, he said this isn't a four-win team. He flat out said that. You know, and a lot of us agree with that. You know we saw, like the marginal losses we had by, you know, less than a touchdown. So, yeah, obviously they're knocking on the door, you know, and when you factor in that they're in the AFC South, you know, a few tweaks here and there could get you over the top and get you into to the playoffs. And it feels like Cohen, based on what he did with what he had over there in Tampa Bay, is the guy that could get us over the top and overtake the Texans as soon as this year. So I can't wait to see if he can do it, get us in the playoff, and I can't wait to see what he does with his offense in terms of the skill players we have. That brings me to my next point.
Speaker 1:Right, one of the parts of this team that he did not single out like he did the departments I just mentioned was the offensive line, and he said something. This was probably the biggest takeaway from the whole press conference for me. He mentioned I think it was towards the end of the press conference that you know one of the things that the opposition sees when you break the huddle and they're on defense is that offensive line. And he said I want that to mean something. Quote an end quote. And that was so significant because we've all long felt that way. We've all long felt that this offensive line was not where it needed to be and not one that Trevor Lawrence or this organization could win with, and it was so frustrating when you factor in how Trent Baalke went about it. I've said this many, many times Y'all heard me rant about Trent Baalke's approach on the offensive line, where it felt like he was putting resources into it but he just simply didn't know what he was doing.
Speaker 1:Keeping Dave Caldwell's pick in the fray of Cam Robinson, who the mentality of most GMs is. They get rid of those who weren't effective from the last regime. So it always felt like he kept Ken Robinson too long from the regime that came before Right, and Ken Robinson didn't really make an impact like that. You know. He paid the man as well, by the way, gave him a extension, and he didn't make the impact that you would expect for somebody that's a GM to say, oh you know, I'll identify that guy from the next regime and I want to keep him and I think we can build something with him. You know what I'm saying. That's not the guy that you would expect. Or should I say Cam Robinson was not that guy. You know, if anything, it should have been Josh Allen, which it was, and they paid him eventually. But Cam Robinson and Josh Allen were two different players is what I'm saying. You know, one was clearly a guy that they should have continued with, which they did, and one was on the opposite end of the spectrum. And then you look at how much they paid brandon scherf and, uh, how much of a shell of himself that he was. You know, he didn't look nowhere near close to the player he was with the Washington commander, so it felt like money was wasted there, although you know he wasn't terrible, but he surely wasn't all pro that we thought we were getting right. The massive miss on Luke Fortner, right, who Liam Cohen, actually, you know, mentioned, cause I think he might've coach Luke Fortner over in Kentucky. So take with that little tidbit, take from that what you will, but that'll be an interesting thing to watch heading forward, but the massive miss on Luke Fortner.
Speaker 1:When you look at Trent Baalke's career as the Jacksonville Jaguars GM, it feels like that was the most disappointing part of his career as a Jacksonville Jaguars GM. It feels like that was the most disappointing part of his career. And what was the most disappointing part about it was what I mentioned in the spaces and what I have mentioned on this podcast. Here we are talking about and I don't mean to keep talking about Trent, because he's no longer here with the team but a lot of what made this press conference what it was was the fact that they're moving on from Trent and going in a totally different direction than they were with him. So he has to be brought up in these conversations.
Speaker 1:But one of the most disappointing things about Trent's tenure was the fact that when you look at Trent uh, being a disciple of Bill Parcells the first thing that's going to come to your mind is like hey, this guy's going to be able, at the very least, to establish a tough team in the trenches, especially the offensive line and the defensive line, and it feels like it was the exact opposite. Right, and Liam Cohen has already identified that that was an issue and that he wants to invest and he wants to make that unit and get that unit where it needs to be in terms of the physical toughness that it needs to have and he mentioned physicality a lot in this press conference, especially within the offensive line. But it's clear as day that he wants to get that unit as mean and nasty as we want it and, as we've seen in the past, back in the day when we used to have these you know, massive offensive lines that Maurice Jones drew and Fred Taylor ran behind. You know rest in peace to Vince Manowai and Brad Meester just rugged, tough guys that didn't care who lined up in front of them. They were moving people off of the ball, whether it was run or pass, and when it came down to those situations where we had to have the yards and get people off of the ball, they did exactly what they needed to do for Maurice Jones, drew and Fred Taylor and David Garrard and whoever else was behind that line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1:Liam Cohen clearly wants to get back to that and, of course, one of the big things that he had with Tampa Bay is a physical offensive line. So it feels like, when you look at the situation, especially with the power he has, he's going to invest into that offensive line. Therefore, trevor Lawrence can take off and have the success that he needs to have again, which was one of the first things I mentioned. One of the first takeaways was he wants to build around Trevor Lawrence. Well, obviously, the biggest key to getting him to perform up to his best is to fix that offensive line. So I cannot wait to see what Liam Cohen does to fix this offensive line and how he invests in into it, and also, not just that, but how much of a stark difference it is from how Trent Balky built the offensive line. And also, too, you know, I just hope he has a better eye for talent than Trent did on the offensive line, which, you know, he's a first-year head coach and we don't know what Liam Cohen has to offer as a scout, but I'm hoping and praying that he learned a lot from those executives in Tampa Bay in terms of identifying how to find dominating offensive linemen and dominating defensive linemen in the trenches.
Speaker 1:And then to wrap up the takeaways with a few smaller tidbits Well, I don't even want to say smaller, because getting a GM is a big deal but some other tidbits from the Liam Presser, the Liam Cohen Presser. There were some things revealed about the structuring of the front office, most notably that the team will have a role for Tony Bocelli. Most notably that the team will have a role for Tony Bocelli, who was helping Shaq Khan and will probably continue to help him throughout the hiring process and, you know, played a key role in the Jacksonville Jaguars being able to land Liam Cohen and probably played a key role in them being able to circle around. After you know, it looks like he was going to sign with the Tampa Bay Bucs and get him to revisit and reconsider and eventually ended up being the Jacksonville Jaguars head coach. So they asked Sean Cohn in the presser you know if Tony Bocelli would be joining the front office and you know what kind of role he would have. And Shaw, you know, basically said and I'm just paraphrasing here you know they have to check with the league in terms of how they'll be able to bring him in and what role he would be able to join the front office in, and you know things of that nature it's not as easy as hey, I want to bring this guy into my front office and I want know things of that nature. It's not as easy as hey, I want to bring this guy into my front office and I want to make him the evp or whatever the case may be which we have talked about. Um, I think it was the last podcast where we were saying or at least I was saying that I was kind of jumping off of that boat of making tony bocelli a evp, especially after you know, um, some of the things he said on 1010XL not this week but last week, but it looks like, hey, maybe he was just playing the game and trying to get his foot in the door in terms of helping Sean come with his coaching hire and, you know, getting Trent Baalke up out of there eventually. So maybe you know some of the things he was saying in praising Trent last week on 1010 XL. Maybe he didn't wholeheartedly feel that way but knew he needed to get into the door and find his way into the inner circle of Shotgun to help him make a, you know, the proper decision in terms of getting rid of Trent and finding the right head coach for this team. But all, all of that said, tony Bocelli will have some kind of a role within the front office, and shotgun confirmed it.
Speaker 1:Albert Breer put out a article as well earlier today, stating that the role for Bocelli that the Jaguars might have in mind is something similar to that of Chris Spielman. As we all know, that's the brother of Rick Spielman, who is currently with the Detroit Lions, and on paper, the role that they have for him is called the special assistant to the owner and CEO. At least that's how Wikipedia got it. I know some people say Wikipedia isn't like a good source or whatever the case may be, but that's how he's listed and just from what I gather, because you know I've done a lot of research on the Lions, obviously because you know we we're looking to coach Ben Johnson and potentially some others from the franchise.
Speaker 1:But from how I gather it, what Spielman's role has been with the Lions, especially with helping their, their owner and I think her name is Sheila Ford, if I'm not mistaken His role has kind of been and I think I remember them saying this on a Sunday night football game that the Lions played in, or maybe it could have been another game like a big time primetime game that the Lions played in, or maybe it could have been another game like a big time prime time game that the Lions were in. But what he kind of helped do is when Sheila Ford started the whole process of resetting the Lions and getting the current front office and getting the current coaching staff that they have, that they going on this run with because remember previously the Lions, lions, their culture was terrible, just flat out terrible. You can argue that the Lions culture, you know, and their history is worse than the Jacksonville Jaguars, at least within the last 20 years at least. That being said, you know she really wanted to fix things and she really put a lot of effort into getting it right and getting the right people in place. You know, not just Dan Campbell, which was an excellent hire, by the way, and not just the front office with Brad Holmes, another excellent hire. You know, brad Holmes brought in Ray Agnew, superb hire as well, but she also needed some help in just kind of figuring out the pulse and just figuring it out, uh, figuring out the relationship with the fans just. And again, this is, you know, something that they mentioned in one of the big primetime games. So I'm, you know, I might not be telling it 100 correctly, but if I could recall um, she just kind of needed some help with weighing the pulse of the fan base and she needed somebody to kind of help guide her with finding the right football people. So that was where Chris Spielman. He was one of the people that helped her with both of those things. So he was kind of like an assistant to break down the football operation side of things to her and the, you know, just kind of gauging to break down the football operation side of things to her and you know, just kind of gauging the temperature of the fan base and you know, gauging where they were and how they felt about the team and the outlook of the team and what needs to be done better and what could be improved. Perspective. But what could the organization do better for the fans? And to measure the pressure between the fan base and measure the relationship between the fan base and the organization, which you know?
Speaker 1:One thing we've always heard about at Jacksonville Jaguars and you know the fans say it all the time is that they're very tone deaf when it comes to weighing the fans and their needs and you know what they want in their consideration. Now, of course you can't just flat out do what the fans say um, that's just not how it works. But the Jacksonville Jaguars have been in this position at least out of under shot. Come for the. You know last what he's been the owner for about 12, 13 years, where it just feels like he just has no gauging of the fan, I guess. Well, he just has no idea of how the fans feel and why they feel that way and so on and so forth. So I think that's something that Tony Bocelli could help with, because, as we all know, you know, he's always on the radio. He hears the fans loud and clear. Whether he agrees with them or not, he at least hears them and takes their thoughts and their takes into consideration. And I think he can, you know, kind of bring that up to Shotgun, keep Shotgun up to speed with how the fans are feeling and also too, as he did with the interviews, help Shotgun with um, you know, putting together football personnel and getting the right people, because, as we all know, shotgun doesn't really know the game of football like that. And then also to the other thing that they asked about.
Speaker 1:They asked Shotgun about you know when a GM will be hired. He said, you know, the first thing you know, again paraphrasing that he wants to do is to let liam make his um or put together his coaching staff, and then after that, that's when they'll start the process of looking for a gm. And of course, you know the combine or um. Yeah, the nfl combine is at the end of next month and I think the deadline to have a gm is around that time. I wrote it down here february the 28th. So they want to have somebody in place before then. They probably have somebody in place well before then.
Speaker 1:And, um, that's going to be the most interesting part of this man because, as you all know, like we have been leading the agenda of getting t Baalke out of here, me and Phil the Touchdown Jaguars podcast, because we know, with the right GM, you know, of course, the coaching matters and you know who you choose to be. The coach is a big part of it, but it all starts with team building and team structuring and things of that nature, which is ultimately that comes down to the GM and that's an important part of what will get the Jaguars where they need to be. So that's going to be a very exciting thing to monitor and watch, especially when you consider, like, how the front office is structured Now, where Liam is calling the shots, which can make things rather interesting, right in terms of them choosing a GM and any GMs wanting to interview, because you know you might have some GMs who say, like you know, I want to have total power in terms of player personnel, the draft, so on and so forth. I don't think this is the job for me. I want to interview for that. An interview for that, or at least you know they want to have it where it was, where both shod and the gm report to shot. Um, excuse me, both the gm and the coach, both um trent and um peterson, were reporting to shod, albeit it felt like trent had all the power when it came to personnel and player decisions. So you know, maybe the gms that they interview, or you know the potential candidates out there you know, might be of the mindset that they want something like that in terms of a setup. So that's going to make this search for a GM real interesting.
Speaker 1:And it also is interesting from the standpoint of Liam is a first year head coach too. And we don't necessarily even know about Liam's scouting ability. And sure you know he probably has put in a word or two or shared his thoughts or banged the table for a prospect or two. But we don't know about Liam Cohen, the GM you know, and that's essentially what he could end up being. He also have the pro personnel decisions to address as well. So it's going to be real interesting because we don't know what Liam offers as a GM. And that makes that hire of a GM all the more important because this is his first time essentially doing this. So he does need to have somebody who is a mastermind and who can offer him elite analysis when it comes to the draft, when it comes to the pro side and, you know, acquiring talent through the pros or trading, whatever the case may be, especially when you consider where the Jaguars are in terms of all of the draft picks they have. You know, and it would be very beneficial for Liam to you know, knock a lot of those picks out of the park, kind of like the Detroit Lions have done for the last three or four years, whatever the case may be, because, as a first year head coach, you need every little bit of help where you could get it. And you know, as we all know, and it will always be this way, that teams are ultimately built through the draft. So, um, he has an important hire coming up there in terms of the GM situation, but again, you know, I think some candidates could be turned off by the setup. So I will definitely be watching that head and forward and you know who interviews and who they could get, because it's going to be real interesting.
Speaker 1:I know a lot of people have said that Ian Cunningham is rumored to be interested or the Jaguars are interested in him. You have to wonder how he would feel about the setup. And also, too, I kind of have said this too and we'll get more into this down the road but Ian is a guy that I don't want to say I'm low on, but I'm not as high on as others. Um, you all have, you know, seen my list, of course, of potential GMs that I would like to have. We even did an episode on it. But, um, just looking at how the Bears are structured and how they've been built and you know, I get it that Ryan Poles is probably pulling the strings and making the decisions, but Ian Cunningham is such a bright mind you have to feel like part of that roster that has been built is an indictment on him in some way, shape or form, right, I find it hard to believe somebody with his football intelligence didn't have a hand in some kind of construction in that roster. And to me that roster isn't constructed all that great. So you know, that's another story for another time. But I said all of that to say. This is that I can't wait to see where they go with the direction of this GM hire.
Speaker 1:Real quick, before we wrap it up, I'll just go over some quick hit news. Of course the Jacksonville Jaguars have been doing offensive and defensive coordinator interviews. I'll just go through the list here. I won't really talk on it, everybody will say that for another episode. But the guys they have interviewed so far I'll pull it up on jaguarscom. On the offensive side they kind of have just started on the offensive side as of yesterday they had been doing mostly defensive coaching candidate interviews but on the offensive side and the most recent one actually popped up as I was recording this. But Tavita Pritchard was the latest interviewee. He is the quarterback's coach for the Commanders worked with Jaden Daniels obviously. Quarterback's coach for the commanders work with jayden daniels obviously. So that's huge in terms of you know why he would be somebody the jaguars would be interested in for coaching up trevor lawrence.
Speaker 1:They have also interviewed on the offensive side nate shield house, who is the passing game coordinator and offensive assistant for the rams. So he's under the Sean McVay tree. So obviously you can make the connection between Liam and the tree, the Sean McVay tree. He's a branch from that tree. So this was probably a big time suggestion from Sean McVay. And then on the defensive coordinator side of things. They interviewed Durante Jones of the Minnesota Vikings. He's the pass game coordinator and defensive backs coach. They interviewed Patrick Graham again, who you know a lot of people were high on and thought he would end up getting the defensive coordinator role, but he will be staying with the Vegas Raiders, the Las Vegas Raiders.
Speaker 1:Another Rams assistant here Rams defensive pass game coordinator and assistant head coach, aubrey Pleasant. I think that's who the Jaguars might end up with as their defensive coordinator. Obviously he's a Sean McVay disciple, like Liam. Liam also worked with him when he was with the Rams and under Sean McVay, so there is a connection there that he knows Aubrey Pleasant personally. And then the Green Bay Packers linebackers coach and defensive run game coordinator, anthony Campanile, who's been making runs on Twitter in regards of the video that surfaced about him and his thoughts on establishing dominance about him and his thoughts on establishing dominance we'll put it that way on the opposition, which I found it as a very interesting video and even commented on it as well. Wouldn't mind having a guy with that kind of mentality too. So that's where they're at, or that's where they are with those hires or those candidate interviews.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't be shocked if we get a hire tomorrow on the defensive side. We'll talk about that in. We get a hire tomorrow on the defensive side. We'll talk about that in the next episode, as well as the offensive hire and any other assistants that are hired by the Jacksonville Jaguars and Liam Cohen. So, all of that said, I will go ahead and wrap this up as I said.
Speaker 1:We'll get Phil on for the next episode. Shout outs to him. And you can find me at sportsgrind underscore done on twitter. You can find phil at phil the filipino. You can follow the touchdown jaguars podcast at tdjagspod on twitter and our official website is touchdownjaguarscom. Once again, shout outs to everybody who were, uh, who participated in the spaces we've done lately. I'll get with Starr see if he wants to do one tomorrow and we can talk about the draft prospects and a lot of the all-star games going on Senior Bowl. So I think it's about time we start moving into that as well because, make no mistake about it, it's going to be an exciting draft, especially with us looking at it from a different perspective, because Trent Baalke is no longer here and you know the Jaguars might go a different route than they you know obviously will go a different route than they previously used to under Baalke. So until then, everybody take care, everybody be safe, everybody look out for each other, and until next time, you all hold it down and I am signing out.